The present invention relates generally to a mat on which yoga is practiced. More particularly, the present invention relates to a yoga mat which includes a design on the yoga mat that helps the yoga practitioner to properly align the body during postures.
There are many kinds of yoga, as well as many reasons to practice yoga. In particular, yoga mats are preferably used in Hatha Yoga, which deals with keeping the physical body fit. The focus is on balance, strength, flexibility, and coordination on both sides of the body. Generally, people have a dominant side, for example, in golf, tennis and baseball people swing only one way as they are either right or left-handed. Only a few people are capable of swinging both right and left. It is not uncommon for chiropractors and yoga instructors to find that one leg of a client might be a little longer than the other due to injuries, poor posture or lack of exercise. It is possible that a leg might be from ¼″ to one full inch off from the other leg. This adversely affects our health as one knee might not bend as well as the other and the effect is magnified through the rest of the body. The purpose of Hatha Yoga practice is to make the right and left sides of our bodies equally strong, flexible and balanced to the best of our ability.
A fundamental part of yoga, in its simplest form, is moving the body in the seven possible one-movement directions and in varying combinations of those movements. For example, the body (1) forward bends, (2) backward bends, (3&4) twists right and left, (5&6) bend from side to side right and left, and (7) extends, stretching from head to toe. An exemplary combination is a twisting forward bend. Another important dimension or aspect of Hatha Yoga is that the postures are either symmetrical (both sides of the body doing the same thing, example: sitting with both legs in forward bend) or asymmetrical (for example, sitting in forward bend with one leg bent into the thigh of the straight leg). In a Hatha Yoga practice session, the bodies are moved in as many different directions and in different combinations as equally and to the best of the practitioner's ability as possible.
Yoga postures are based and taught that the postures are built from the foundation up, analogous to the building of a house. The definition of “foundation” for this purpose is the part of the body touching the floor. There are basically two kinds of foundations: 1) down on the floor, for example, prone, supine or sitting; and 2) up off the floor, for example standing, kneeling on hands and feet, hands and knees, headstand, elbow stand, handstand. There are over one thousand yoga postures. Standing balancing poses need a good foundation so that the practitioner doesn't fall down. A short flexible person's feet would be wider apart in his or her stance than a practitioner who is less flexible and a tall person's feet would be even wider apart in his or her stance.
Yoga poses are held for a good length of time, sometimes one minute or more. Being stable is important and again the foundation is a good start. Like a gymnast on a balance beam, alignment brings stability, example: standing with the legs wide apart in forward bend over right leg, the back leg needs to be in line with the right leg not crossed midline (off the balance beam). Exact placement of the feet changes from teacher to teacher and pose to pose depending on purpose and ability.
Before the development of the present invention, a practitioner was taught to use the horizontal and vertical lines in the room as a guide to position not only the mat but the body as well. There might be visual aids such as lines within a hardwood floor, or the lines where the walls and floor come together. The mats are put on the floor as straight as possible with respect to the room and all facing in the same direction.
There currently does not exist a yoga mat which charts the progress of the student. Nor does there exist a yoga mat which indicates the proper alignment of a number of variations of postures.
Accordingly, there is a need for a universally usable yoga mat which aids the yoga practitioner in properly aligning himself or herself in various poses and which allows the practitioner to determine his or her flexibility progress. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.